Angus Council has put itself on a collision course with Scottish Government transport chiefs after throwing out a Laurencekirk junction planning condition that could have stalled development of a multi-million-pound Montrose business park.
The authority’s leader led a move to reject the condition that would have prevented the John Lawrie Group plan for a 50-hectare development from going ahead until the long-awaited grade-separated junction on the A90 is in place.
Last month saw the announcement of £24 million funding towards delivery of a flyover at the dual carriageway’s “blackspot” crossing with the A937 to Marykirk and Montrose.
But SNP administration leader Iain Gaul said that with no indication of timescale and no control over the project in neighbouring Aberdeenshire he wanted to ensure his authority got out the message that “Angus is open for business.”
Mr Gaul said: “Angus is open for business, but this condition blocks this, it blocks everything that is going to happen in north Angus and is going to have an adverse effect for years to come.
“We don’t know when this junction is going to happen, but we have been told nothing happens in north Angus if it generates one more car.
“That is a dreadful statement, made by someone in Edinburgh not knowing what is going on in the north-east.
“If they want to pull this in it’s up to them to argue why they want that condition left on,” said Mr Gaul.